The Calm Before The Storm
by PerseusSlayerOfMedusa
Summary: With Chaos preparing Doomsday as we speak, AJ, the gang, and four new demigods will have to embark on another quest to finish up the prophecy that started it all. But with this quest will come a choice—one that might end up tearing the group apart, or bring them together and make them stronger. But during all of this, Chaos has some plans of her own. Co-written with TeamPiper.
1. Understanding Eme

**Hey guys! I'm back with the sequel to Stolen: The Rise of Chaos, like promised! I am going to miss that story so much! But now I have something else to take my mind off of it; The Calm Before The Storm.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  
**

**AJ's POV—  
**

The gang and I stand outside the borders of camp, waiting to go in. I inhale a sharp breath, knowing that we're probably the worst group for a quest ever. All we managed to do is not complete it by not finding the weapons of the Big Three, and oh, of course, losing one of our members to the ancient goddess of Chaos. All in all, a bad week.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Bay's legs are shaking.

"It's going to be fine." I say, putting my hand on her shoulders. I see Mac breathing heavily, clenching her fists at her side.

"AJ, just reminding you..." Mac says, quirking an eyebrow angrily at me. "That it was Bay and you together in the first place that made Eme convert over to Chaos!"

I blink, and the fact that she's right comes barreling down on me, leaving a bad taste in my mouth, and a feeling like there was a rock in my stomach. You see, a few days ago, my best friend Eme had given up on all of her insecurities and given her body to Chaos to use for the upcoming Doomsday. Chaos herself**—**or Eme herself, I'm still not sure yet**—**had told me that I was the reason Eme had given up her soul and body for Chaos' to use.

I exhale sharply, moving my hands off Bay's shoulders and turn to face Mac. "I know that**—**but that's exactly another reason we're going to find and save her."

No matter how much I blame myself for causing Eme to turn into the freaking goddess of creation and Chaos, the gang**—**though, all except for Mac, for some reason**—**refused to let me believe it.

"Okay," Ray says, biting his lip. "Let's go."

The entire gang crosses over the border of Camp Half-Blood, the guard dragon of Thalia's Pine Tree and The Golden Fleece eying Bay suspiciously, and someone in the distance blows into a conch horn. Everyone comes pouring away from their activities, their cabins, and even some naiads walk out of trees and the river to come join the fun.

"Where's Eme?" a few kids from the Apollo cabin murmur, looking at each other, frowning.

"Who's she?" someone from the Iris cabin yells.

"She doesn't even go here!" someone from the Ares cabin yells, bringing on a round of laughter from the buffoons.

Ray steps up and glares at the Ares group, growling in his throat lowly. He begins explaining what had happened over the past week, us beginning on the R.M.S Avian, the ship sinking, us being stranded at sea on our way to Rome. He explains how I found Bay, and introduced her to everybody as the daughter of Hecate. The Hecate group**—**three girls and four guys ages fourteen to eighteen**—**waves her over to them but she just shakes her head and stays by me.

Then he explains how Chaos had her headquarters set up on Capitoline Hill in Rome, and Chaos snatching Eme away from us and taking over her body. He explains the conversation we'd had after that, though he leaves out the reasons why Chaos chose Eme as her host. Then he says even though with all this, we're going to save her.

"Wait... but _why_ did Chaos specifically choose Eme?" a boy from the Hermes cabin asks. "If I would've chosen anyone, I'd chosen that hottie Bay." He winks at her and she glares at him, popping off sparks. The rest of the Hermes cabin elbows him into silence.

Ray opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, I widen my eyes and run off towards the omega cabin setup, sprinting into the seashell cabin that is Cabin 3, blinking back tears and collapse on my bunk. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of my other cabin-mates laptops are still running.

I bite my lip, then walk over to the door and lock it. I walk over to the laptop and look at the LED display, the keys, thinking of what to type. I open up the web browser and slowly begin to type in.

_Les Miserables._

An audio-recording of it comes up and I click on it, turning it up to full volume and walk over towards my bunk, tossing my dagger on the top bunk and taking for the rest of the day in the bottom.

Most of what I'm listening to doesn't make sense, but I refuse to turn it off. I'm listening to it in honor of Eme.

I scrunch my eyebrows together, thinking about how Eme always talked about wanting to be Eponine, and how she always felt like her. This, of course, hadn't made sense to me at the time, but listening to this, it opens up a new light on me.

"I love him, but everyday I'm learning. All my life, I've only been pretending. Without me, his world would go on turning. A world full of happiness that I have never known," A clear voice sings, and I begin to think about that.

_Eme, you're wrong. _I think. _My world won't go on turning. _Just then, her favorite song, _A Little Fall of Rain_, came on, and I walk over and turn the volume down all the way.

I close my eyes, and despite how racked my body is, sleep refuses to overtake me. Though I do get some messed up images in my mind, not dreams; I picture myself as Marius, Bay as Cosette, and Eme as Eponine. I think about just how worn-out and blunt I feel after listening to the musical and taking them into realization.  
Even though I didn't want to, I couldn't help think of Eme dying. But not yet.

I'm just about to fall asleep when I hear the lock of the cabin door click open, and Mac walks in, wearing a pair of fresh clothes.

"Don't think about it," she says, more unlikely reading my thoughts. "I'm sorry about grouching at you earlier." She bites the inside of her lip.

"Don't worry about it," I say. "But how can _you_ not think about it?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

She frowns. "Eme was my best friend," she says. "I miss her, but just missing her isn't going to get her back. Chaos is more unlikely feeding on our emotions and bringing Armageddon closer by getting more powerful. We just need to concentrate, and become better fighters to save her. The rest of the cabin comes in, and Mac closes and locks the door. Even though the guy that owned the laptop had shut it off, the last thing I heard before I fell asleep was Eponine's voice singing "Little you know. Little you care."


	2. Bay Breaks The Rules

**AJ's POV—  
**

I wake up, after an oddly dreamless night. That should've made me happier—nothing to weigh me down during the day. But it doesn't; it makes me feel more on edge, like something bad is going to happen. I shake the thought of Eme off, sitting up in my bunk and pressing my finger tips to my temples.

I shrug out of bed, slipping my oceanic steel dagger into my belt. I shrug into a pair of skinny jeans and a light green T-shirt, and a pair of leather combat boots. I gave up on the blue streak in my hair, so now it's just a small shade of purple in my bangs. I fold the covers on my bed, and slip my backpack under the bunk.

I jog out of the cabin, walking up the hill to the Dining Pavilion, scowling at the ground and not really paying attention to what I'm doing. I fiddle with my fingernails, digging the dirt out from under them. Still not paying attention, I walk right into someone. It's one of the campers that I've not really met yet, but that doesn't stop me from snapping at her, "Watch it," a bit more harsh that I meant.

"Oh, you know," she says, tucking a bit of beach blonde hair behind her ears, blinking her pale blue eyes. "Sorry. I didn't see you."

I shrug and walk into the marble pavilion, walking over to the table and picking up a few pieces of bacon, a bit of cereal, and a piece of raisin toast. I walk over to the brazier where we burn food for the gods and put the raisin toast in the flames. The smoke comes up smelling like ripe grapes, and wildflowers—not something you'd normally expect, but these are enchanted for the gods.

"For Eme," I say, then wince. That had basically been just saying, "For Chaos."

I walk over to the Poseidon, not even bothering to look at the Apollo cabin table. Next to me, Bay sits down, looking fresher than she had when we'd first met. Her brown hair is done in ringlets on the back of her head, and she wears a pair of blue jeans, a pair of boots, a brown T-shirt, and a leather jacket. Slung across her back is a wooden staff attached to a leather cord like a quiver strap, with a dog carved into the top. Hanging at her belt is a dagger and a rod of metal that I realize is a wand.

"You're gonna get busted," I say.

She shrugs. "Not like I'd really care. I've gotten in trouble for much worse than just sitting at the wrong table."

I smile a bit at that.

"And hey, AJ?" she asks. I nod. "Word's spread around that since we didn't finish our original quest, the gods are mad. So... don't be surprised if pretty soon, we have to go and find the Big Three's weapons." She opens her mouth to speak again, apparently decides against it, then jogs off to the Hecate cabin table.

During archery practice, as I'm stringing the bow I'd been allowed to use, Will walks over to me.

"I'm freaking _fed up_ with my cabin," he says, sending his arrow flying all the way through his target.

"What did they do?" I arch an eyebrow, notching my arrow in the string.

"Well—that." he points into the distance towards the canoe lake, where a big buff guy with brown hair and battle armor on walks towards the water, carrying a little girl with white-blonde hair. The girl kicks, thrashes, screams, and even bites, but his grip on her doesn't even loosen. "See? My brother Ash. He's gonna drop her in or something."

Ash suddenly gets a sly smile on his face and sets the girl down on the end of the dock, right above the water, and then runs away. I frown and set my bow down on the ground, jogging over to her with Will following.

As I begin to walk towards the end of the dock, I notice her pale blue eyes are filled with fear, her body shaking. I squint at her and realize it was the same one I'd snapped at this morning. She starts crawling, very slowly and nervously, towards us. She reaches up and touches Will's stomach, then recoils and says, "I—I don't know who you are, and I hate doing this... but can you help?"

Confused, I rest my hand on my dagger. Help? What is she talking about? Help her get off the dock?

"What are you, blind?" I ask, once again more harshly than I'd meant to.

She says flatly, "Yes."

**Sorta a sucky cliffhanger. (: I'm gonna go ahead and mention this: every chapter will be co-written with TeamPiper, or at least certain parts written by TeamPiper. Sorry it's short, it's sorta a filler, and I couldn't really make it much longer. **


	3. I Make Some New Friends

**AJ's POV—  
**

Guilt rises in my chest. I say, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend your or anything—"

"It's not offensive!" she butts in. "It's how I am. I just can't really—" her voice fades off a bit. She starts to stand up and I notice how small she is. Not even to five feet. As she rises, she says "Well, you drew the short straw, so you just make sure I don't fall off—"

She's cut off by Will bending to her height and picking her up into his arms.

"Okay, okay, Hot Shot. I can walk. Not a cripple." she continues this as he starts to carry her off the dock. "Seriously, Hot Shot. Put—me—down."

Will sets her down at the edge of the dock. She smiles as her bare feet touch the ground.

"Well, thanks." she says, her eyes glancing into space.

"No problem." Will responded. "But who are you?"

"The real question is who are you?!" She says, sounding a lot like a detective. She started to laugh.

"Well," Will starts "That's AJ, and I'm Will, son of Ares."

"I'm Hollie. Hollie Aro. From cabin, what ever Demeter's number is."

"You don't know your own cabin number?" I ask her.

"Come on, Short Straw! Keep up! I can't see it!" she said, as if it should be obvious.

"Once again, I'm so sorry—"

"Don't apologize, Short Straw. I'm fine. I've had worse then people telling me to watch I'm going..." she says, looking downward.

"Do you need any help? Getting to where you're going, that is." Will asks her.

"Oh, you think I can't see!" Hollie laughs, and looks forward "See—no pun intended there—I can see with my feet, but not my eyes. If I'm on solid ground, I'm perfectly fine. The reason I couldn't get off the dock back there was I couldn't sense the ground vibrating under me."

"That's so cool!" I say, my voice getting excited.

"In some ways. Well, I'm off to archery! See ya'll later." she says, running off over the hill with Will running after her.

They walk away together, leaving me standing by the dock, feeling bad about how I've been treating people lately.

I hike back up the hill, back to the archery range, and pick up the bow I'd dropped when we'd went to help Hollie. I see Bay a few yards away, shooting flaming arrows with some other children of Hecate.

"Well, hey, AJ," she says, sending an arrow flying into the target and setting it ablaze.

"Hey," I say, stringing the bow. "Met anyone interesting yet?" I ask, pulling the bow back and sending the arrow into a nearby tree.  
"Yeah," she says. "I met a son of Hades. Are you jealous about another Big Three kid?" She smirks, joking at me.

I shrug, and walk over to the arena—a big, marble dome with targets, sword dummies, and sandbags hanging from the ceilings. I step in, drawing out my dagger from my belt, and walk over to a dummy, arcing my arm to stab it. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a big kid with black curly hair, and muscles flirting with a girl with brown, curly hair.  
I walk over to them. "Do you wanna spar?" I ask the guy.

"Sure, man," he says, drawing a sharp, long dagger from a sheath on the inside of his forearm. The girl backs up as I draw my blue steel dagger.

The guy's obviously been practicing for years and years on end. In just five seconds, he manages to disarm me by pushing all his body weight down onto the hilt of my dagger, sending it flying. I lunge for it, then slash at him. He easily deflects the blade with his, sending sparks flying as the metals clash.

The girl with brown hair studies us with piercing gray eyes, lacing her fingers together.

After about ten minutes, when the guy pins me to the ground, my fists under his combat boots and unable to move, his dagger at my neck, I say in a raspy voice, "You win."

He grins and gets off of me, helping me up.

"I'm Mason," he says. "Son of Hephaestus."

"AJ," I say, wiping some sweat off of my brow. "Son of Poseidon,"

"I knew that," he laughs. "You were just on the biggest quest of the year. Who wouldn't know you?"

"So you're a son of Hephaestus?" I ask. He nods. "Do you know Ray?"

"Yeah! He's pretty cool."

The girl with brown hair and grey eyes walks over to us.

"This is Camille, daughter of Athena." he says and then Camille punches him in the gut.

"It's Cami," she says harshly in a British accent. "Bloody hell."

"Where are you from?" I ask, then wince at how stupid that sounded, as she had a British accent.

"London." she says warily. "British exchange program." She narrows her eyes at me. "You just came back from that quest, didn't you?"

I nod.

"You lost the daughter of Apollo? What was it, Emma, Emery—"

"It's Eme. Spelled E-M-E, pronounced Emmy." I say. "She was very strict on that..."

"You'll find her for sure," Mason says hopefully.

"Yeah," I say. "I have to."

**I am so sorry to keep ya'll waiting! :c I have the winter-blues, winter-induced depression. I want to write, but my brain tosses other things at me! I'm fighting it by getting in the Christmas spirit, though! :D  
Oh! There will be some upcoming Christmas stories on my profile too, soon. Look out for spin-offs for All For One, this story, and some of my first canon character stories. They'll be Christmas-related, though, to get me one, in the writing spirit, and two, the Christmas spirit. (; **

**Until then! (:**


	4. Eme Plays A Risky Card

**AJ's POV—**

As I hear the conch horn sound out through the inside of the camp, I start making my way to the pavilion. As I reach the top, I look around and see everyone.

Mason and Ray are chatting about some Hephaestus kid stuff, Will has an intense stare at a certain daughter of Demeter, that certain Demeter girl isn't really looking at anything, probably because she physically can't. Cami sits at the Athena table, not eating food, but eating up the words in a huge book, that makes me dizzy just by looking at it. Mac is already at the Poseidon table, helping my youngest sister, Cassie, get food. I finally spot Bay talking to some guy who I've never met before. I walk over to see who he is.

He has dark silky hair, with green tinted into his bangs. He's very skinny for a guy, but he has a quiver strapped to his back, his bow stuck in his grip. His eyes are a dark green, and he has bags under his eyes.

"Oh! Hey AJ!." Bay says, looking at the guy. "This is Alex Evers, son of Hades. The one I told you about earlier"

"Aye," Alex says, waving a bit.

"Alex, meet AJ, he's son of Poseidon" she says, motioning towards me.  
"Hey, Alex." I say, then walk over to the Poseidon table, taking a seat after getting some food and sacrificing it for the gods. I'd sent out a silent prayer to Poseidon asking if there was any possible ways to get Eme back from Chaos, but all I'd gotten was a blast of fresh sea air to my face.

I didn't eat much, mainly just played around with my food, twirling it in my fork and knife or poked at it.

After dinner finished up, and Chiron had done the legendary toast to the gods, we all headed down to the campfire for the sing-along.

He'd decided to cut us all some slack and let us sit by whoever we wanted, of course saying that there must be absolutely no public display-of-affection or he'd withdraw that rule instantly. There had been several snickers at that comment, and people teasing each other.

I have a small debate with myself about where to sit, as I don't really know anyone hardly, then just end up sitting in the Ares section, with Hollie—who Will almost broke his leg running to get her over here to sit with us. Bay quickly came over, followed by Alex, who I'm assuming was her biggest fan, he followed her around so much. It takes me a few seconds to realize that I'm scowling with jealousy at them. She doesn't like him. I can tell from how she puts the distance between them, occasionally glancing back at him.

Mason and Cami came over shortly after the rest of them, accompanied by Mac and Ray.

Everyone started talking to each other, getting to know each other, waiting for Chiron to announce the campfire sing-along beginning—which would be in an hour, I think.

"So, your name's Cami?" Alex asks her, epically failing at small talk.

"Yes," she says, her British accent echoing in my ear. "It's actually Camille, but I don't like to go by that. It makes me feel like such a ninny"

I saw Hollie get a look on her face, of partial confusion and partial 'I'm never gonna let you live this down'. "So, how Hogwarts this time of year, Hermione?"

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow up at the blind girl. "I'm a demigod; not a wizard. Daughter of Athena"

"Of course you are, Miss Granger." Hollie says, everyone cracking smiles at her commentary.

"Who wants to hear a story about Alex?" Bay says, almost bouncing up and down. "It's awesome."

"It's not that awesome," Alex says, blushing and looking at the ground.

"You're kidding me!" she says, punching him lightly. "Tell them."

"He he. Okay." he says, sitting forward lightly. "Well, it's about the time I went to the Underworld, after I first figured out I was a demigod. It was right towards the end of the school year, and I was sitting in sixth period algebra, just doing nothing except sitting with a stupid look on my face—cause you know, I didn't understand most of what the teacher was saying. Well, to get out of class, I asked to go to the bathroom, then shadow traveled out to the Underworld—"

"Alexander Constance Evers!" Hollie interrupts him, as if she was mad at her son

Alex frowns. "My middle name isn't Constance..."

"You just keep telling yourself that, Ace."

"How did you get Ace from—"

"MOVING ON!" Hollie practically screams.

See, Hollie has nicknames for everyone in the gang. She calls me Short Straw, Will Hot-Shot. Cami, apparently, she calls Miss Granger, and now Alex's was apparently Ace, or Constance—or maybe both?  
Alex just rolls his eyes, smiling.

Then Chiron stomps his hoof on the marble next to the hearth, and we all settle down.

That night, we sang several of your typical campfire songs—except with a Greek tinge to it.  
See, for instance, the Apollo cabin leads the song, something about their grandmother going off for war. They all put on their armor—while singing about it—and pointing to the places where it has to go. "Your greaves go on here," they sang, extending the _-e_ and pointing at their knees. "Your breastplate goes on here," and pointing to their chests. This went on until they had all their armor on, and everyone was exploding in laughter, even me.  
The flames in the campfire were also magically enchanted to reflect the campers moods—I'd learned this at my first campfire, which was my only campfire before my quest—and right now, the flames burned twenty-feet high, and I could feel the heat practically all the way from here.

After Chiron dismissed us for bed, I went over to the window in the Poseidon cabin and looked out at a heartwarming sight—Mason was walking Cami back to her cabin, all the way to the door. This reminds me of something that happened oh, so long ago, and it takes me a bit to realize what's about to happen.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

About a month had passed since Eme had admitted to me that she starved herself. It had taken a long time to get her back to normal, but of course I had helped with that—offering her food, making sure she had eaten it, waited for her to digest it so she couldn't throw it up. One certain night, the school had told us there would be a month-til-school-let-out celebration party—this was about a month before Ray had rescued Mac, Will, Eme and me and taken us to camp—and Eme was so happy that night, I'm surprised she didn't actually explode. I remember how much she had eaten that night, laughed with joy, and then gotten up on stage, belting out several different notes.

Then when the party had just began to end, everyone starting to clean up, I'd noticed her by the bathroom doors, looking green and clutching her stomach.

"Eme, if you eat too much before you're fully recovered, you're going to throw up." I say, then think of something else. "Standing next to the toilets isn't going to help much either."

She laughs a bit at that, but the green still remains in her face.

That night, I'd offered to take her back to her dorm. We'd been walking when she passed a trash can, and hunched over, retching inside of it. I wrinkled my nose, then took her back to her dorm. I'd walked her right up to the front door—just like Mason and Cami.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

When I finally fall out of the flashback, I notice that Mac's all the way at the cabin. I sprint the distance back to the seashell-studded cabin, and all the Poseidon kids went into the cabin, locking the door behind us.

I laid in bed, my body wracked and ready for rest, but my brain says, _Just kidding._

"AJ?" Mac asks from the bunk above me.

"Yeah?" I respond.

"Why didn't Hollie give me a nickname?"

I quirk a smile. "Just be grateful you aren't Short Straw or Hot Shot."

She laughs, and then her breathing steadies out, turning into a snore.

She snores? Huh.

Then sleep finally takes my body in its hold, giving me just enough time to wonder what the dream will be _this _time.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

The dream starts back in the canals on our first quest, where we'd first found Bay. Except this time, we aren't in the water. Instead, I feel myself falling as if I'm Bay. In the background of the dream, I hear a faint voice singing. **  
**

"He was never mine to lose," the voice sings. "Why regret what cannot be. These are words he'll never say, not to me."

That just about killed me. I close my eyes and pray for any dream, any dream other than this. The images begin to morph, and I think this one's even worse.

Eme stands in front of me, not really acknowledging me, acting as if I'm not even there.

But it's not really Eme—her eyes aren't the cheerful blue, her hair bleach blonde.

Instead, her eyes are dark, gross green, like a nuclear power plant. Her hair is still blonde, just with blue and black streaked into it. I look into her eyes, and see images that probably will be burned into my mind forever—men going insane, continents blowing up, and the world eventually being overwhelmed by Chaos: Doomsday.

Then something changes. Her eyes start to turn back to their normal shade of blue—not instantly, but slowly, as if she's finally overpowering Chaos. Her hair starts to lose some of the darker colors.

My eyes widen. I can't believe she's trying that... but I'm also horrified that she'll kill herself trying. How could someone as frail and weak as Eme have the power to overtake an ancient—the most ancient, in fact—goddess?

Anyways, the blue is about to completely overtake her eyes, then something goes wrong. She hisses at herself, and they dilate back to nuclear green, and I swear that I can almost hear Eme yell.

I wake up instantly, my body covered with sweat.

I climb up to the bunk where Mac is sound asleep and shake her awake.

"What?" she mutters. "I don't want any pancakes, mom," she mutters, but even that can't cheer me up.

"Mac, wake up. It's important."

"What?" she says when I finally get her awake.

"Eme..." I say. "She's trying to get her body back from Chaos—but I think she's going to kill herself trying."


	5. I Make A Bad Choice

**Sorry for taking so long to update! Holiday time, etc. On with the chapter. :3 It's long.**

**AJ's POV—  
**

We all go down to the dining pavilion for dinner when the conch horn—don't ask how I know it's a conch, though. I guess it's from all those movies they have with them in it, if they actually sound like that...

I went over to the buffet bar, picking up a meaty slice of smoked brisket, a fat clump of red grapes, and picking up one of the special enchanted goblets from the table. I walk over to the brazier for the sacrificial meal to the gods, and pick off the juiciest clump of grapes, and drop into the fire. "For Poseidon," I say lightly.

I walk over to the tables, walking slightly fast towards the Poseidon table, where Mac and a few of the other Poseidon kids wait, digging in to their food.

I'm about three meters away from it when Bay steps into my line of vision, frowning at me.

"What?" I ask.

"You walk like a French model." she says, straight-faced.

"Uh—what?" I say, raising my eyebrow.

"Seriously!" she says, laughing. "You throw your shoulders when you walk, like you're the top of the world, or something like that."

"Okay then." I say, then walk over to the Poseidon table, sitting down and digging into my food after Chiron clops his foot—hoof, whatever—on the marble floor, pronouncing the annual "To the gods!"

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

Just when I feel like I'm about to burst, the old centaur announces that there's going to be a match of Capture the Flag tonight. Huh. I'd forgotten it was Friday already, this week had gone by so fast. This, of course, brought up a round of cheers from the Ares and Athena tables.

"Now, the leaders of the teams have been predetermined by the cabins of whom the team cabins are. The leader of the red team, from the Ares cabin, is Ash. The leader of the blue team, from the Iris cabin, is Alaura. You have an hour and a half to decide the teams, choose allies, and prepare your weapons. Good luck, and may the gods be with you."

Complete chaos broke out as people started targeting their best friends to make alliances with their cabins, sometimes slices of pizza were thrown up in the air for some reason, and then they actually announce who'd gotten the allies.

Ash, a beefy sixteen-year old, declares that the red team has made alliances for this game with the Athena campers—an assortment of blonde-haired, grey-eyed kids that looked like they could defeat _anybody_, and I mean anybody, in a fight. The Zeus cabin also, but that was—luckily—only a set of two black-haired twins, but they still looked like they'd fought some battles, and wasn't gonna let us defeat them. The Hades campers, four or five teenagers with sort of goth looking outfits, with black weapons. The Nike cabin, which I can already tell that's going to be a bad mix—Nike is the goddess of victory, sorta something you want to have in a fight. Then the Tyche cabin—although they don't look like much of a challenge, and then, oddly enough, the Hecate campers. All of them—roughly ten or nine boys and girls—were all armed with long wooden staffs, and a few of them had small rods strapped to their belts—I assume wands? And no telling what magical items they have at their commands, either.

Alaura, a fifteen year old with light brown hair and a small, impish frame, begins to read off our advocates. The blue team is made up of the Poseidon cabin, six teenagers and one six-year-old that had said she wouldn't be playing the game. We had the Hephaestus cabin, which might help us trap-wise and strength wise, but there isn't many of them. The Aphrodite cabin—now, do _not _ask me how they ended up with us. I think it's because Alaura's on really good terms with them, but they're not going to be much help for us strength-wise. Most of them already gave up, sitting down by the edge of the lake and brushing up their hair, putting ringlets in, earrings, batting foundation on their faces, girly things like that. We have about three girls from their cabin, and about seven boys. And then we have the Iris cabin, which Alaura is from. I personally don't think they'll do much good, because they don't particularly strike me as warriors...

Then we have the Apollo cabin, who might be a bit of help with archery—which I've discovered I suck at—then the Demeter cabin, basically about ten teenagers, not too strong, but not too weak, either. The Hermes cabin—thank gods, they might help with traps—but there's not many of them; about fifteen boys and girls. And then we have the Hebe cabin, but like I've said before... we're doomed.

"Now, you may go make your battle strategies for how you plan to win." Chiron says, trotting off towards the Big House.

The red team gathers up in a big circle, roughly forming about sixty to seventy people on their team. We have about thirty, if even that much.

"Now..." someone from the Apollo cabin says. "We're doomed, right?"

Alaura rolls her eyes, pulling out a small rainbow-colored ring from her pocket and slipping it on. "Now, now, Robin, don't talk like that. We need to be inspired, not thinking we're going to win. They have strength on their sides, but we have brains."

"Uh, they actually have brains too," someone from the Zeus cabin says.

"Max!" one of Alaura's sisters says. "Stop!"

"Okay, Skittles." he says, smirking at her. She turns beet red, then blasts him with a small rainbow in the face.

"Taste the rainbow!" she exclaims. I can't help it—I burst out laughing. Everyone looks at me oddly, cracking up lightly.

"Now, I am serious." Alaura says. "Who has any ideas?"

I raise my hand lightly after I quit laughing. "Uh, I do..."

"Yes, boat head?" she says, everyone snickering. I give her an odd look.

"Well, if we could send someone over there to spy somehow, we could find out a way to win."

"AJ, that is the—" Mac starts to say.

"—most brilliant idea I've ever heard!" Alaura finishes for her. "The best lead the blue team has ever had in a long time!"

"Actually, I was going to say terrible idea..." Mac looks down, fiddling with something.

"Oh, my gods!" one of the girls say from the Aphrodite cabin. "This is, like, totally going to work!"

Alaura considers that happy thought for a moment. "Then, who would go?"

Then, the person I'd least likely have chosen, raises their hand and says, "Why, I would gladly do it."

Caroline—the counselor for the Apollo cabin. Sort of looks like a younger version of that preppy girl from that movie, _Mean Girls_. Or a less pretty version of Aphrodite.

Alaura rubs her chin lightly. "You wouldn't have been my first choice, but okay."

She smirks, putting her fingertip to her lips. "Oh, just so you know, I don't care if you hate me. It's perfectly fine by me. I have plenty of secrets to mention for everyone that hates me, though." With that happy thought, she walks right into the enemy group, though no one seems to notice her.

Alaura leans in towards me. "That's why her hair's so big, you know. It's full of secrets." she whispers creepily.

I flash a grin towards her. "The newest version of Regina George, that's her."

She returns the grin, then goes off to help the rest of the red team into their armor.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

There's about forty-five minutes til the Capture the Flag match starts—and Caroline's not back yet.

Alaura frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. "AJ, can you go see about her? I don't really want to risk anyone else, but I don't know how anyone else can do this."

"But how can I go into their group unseen?" I frown.

"Well..." she shifts from foot-to-foot. "I did a quest for Hecate about a year ago. She'd gotten one of her spell-books stolen, and I went on a quest to get it. I was told to not peek, but I did anyways. It was pointless to be told not to anyways, because I couldn't even read it. It was in some language that I couldn't read. But, there was one in there, written in Greek. It was an invisibility spell, that anyone can do. You don't even have to be a Hecate camper to do it; it just involves bending light around someone."

"That's so cool!" I say.

"Yeah," she says, smiling lightly. "But it's dangerous. I've only mastered it once, and it was on a statue."

"Oh, that's not as cool now."

"So, we're going to add some fluff to it."

"Oh?" I ask, arching an eyebrow.

"Water is protective for a son of Poseidon, yeah?" she says, more as a statement than a question. "Summon it towards you. It must be like a magnet towards you. Try it."

I close my eyes in concentration, picturing myself as a magnet towards water, not metal. There's a sharp tug in the pit of my gut, and I feel myself covered in a thick layer of air, or something. But I'm exhausted. My knees tremble like I'd just ran a mile without stopping. Not good for upcoming battles.

"Oh yes," she says. "It worked perfectly. You now have a thin layer of water vapor around you, so if the spell backfires, basically a layer of protection."

She slides her ring off her finger, throwing it at me. It explodes in front of my face, throwing out a long rainbow, which wraps around me like mummy linen.

"Yay!" she says. "It worked; you're _not _a slug. But you are sort of invisible."

"What?" I ask, putting my hands out in front of me and open my eyes. She's right—I'm gone.

"Now, you're not completely invisible. This spell just bends light around you, shielding you from most eyes. And it responds to your emotions too. So don't get mad while inside of it."

"Okay," I say, and start walking into the red team's territory.

I walk into the dining pavilion, and see the strangest thing ever. Caroline, Bay, and a few other red team campers—including Will, and some other Ares kids, and someone I've not seen before—sit around a table, bursting out laughing at something Bay says.

I inch closer slowly, knowing they can't see me.

I hear the name "Eme" brought up somewhere in the conversation, and I have to clamp my hand over to keep from saying something.

"Oh, don't get me _started_ on her!" Caroline says, rolling her eyes. "She was an annoying, anorexic freak. The best thing that could've happened to her was her being taken over by Chaos."

"Oh, I know it," Bay says.

I tremble with rage. I clamp my teeth down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming every creative cuss word I can at them, but it's not enough. I discover what Alaura meant about this thing responding to my emotions—the light sends off a sharp bolt of light, a jaw-rattling _pop!, _and then I can see myself, standing directly in front of them. _  
_

"What was that?" I ask, my fists clenched at my side, shaking with rage.

"Oh, nothing," Caroline lies, backing away slowly. I don't let her get away though. I'm up off the ground before I know it, me on top of her, her sprawled out on the ground, my knife shoved tight under her throat.

"What—did—you—say?" I say, cutting off every syllable.

"AJ!" Bay yells, putting her hands on me and trying to yank me off of her. My hand lashes out before I can think about what I'm doing, and my hand smacks across her face, leaving a red hand-print.

Will stares at me, his mouth wide open. Caroline backs away frantically.

Then there's Bay's reaction. She puts her hand up to her cheek, her eyes wide with rage, a death glare aimed right at me.

"You—little—" she lets out a sting of cuss-words and insults so bad at me, any self-respecting mother would've washed her mouth out with lye soap for a year straight. "You should _not_ have done that."

"Oh, it's not like you're going to hurt me." I scoff, sliding my dagger out of its sheath for protection.

"Oh? _OH?_" she says, her staff materializing out of thin air, the tip ignited with white-hot flame. "_I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU? IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK?__" _she slams the tip of her staff right into my chest, throwing me about ten yards backwards from pure force, my chest burning.

I prop myself up on one elbow, only to see Bay charging right towards me. I'm weak and dazed with the burning sensation behind my rib cage, but the adrenaline rushing through me has different plans. I scramble for my dagger, which is about a foot away from me. I slide it into my belt, standing up and putting my arms forward, Bay still surging forwards, her staff aimed right for my chest.

She runs right into me, but I don't let myself fall over this time. I will _not_ be humiliated in front of the camp by her. I grab her staff with both hands, and putting all of my strength into this risky move, throw her over my shoulder, using the wooden rod as a lever.

She goes flying over my shoulder, slamming into the ground with a loud _thump._

"Oh, you're going to rue this day." she says, throwing herself up. Her staff flies back towards her, and she catches it.

"Yeah, sure." I say, my head throbbing, rolling my eyes. "Then you don't know me." I draw my dagger out of my belt, readying it. She aims her staff at me again, and I start running towards her. She sends out a bolt of electricity, and—do not ask me how I did this either, though, because I have no idea—I slam my dagger forward, meeting the voltage and slam it towards the side, blowing one of the hillsides up, making it rain dirt.

That doesn't even slow me down though. I slam my blade right into her staff, slicing it in half and run right into her, knocking us both to the ground in an explosion that cracks my lips and blisters my skin lightly.

She slams her elbow into me, rolling over on top of me and headbutts me _hard__. _I throw her off of me, scrambling around for my dagger but she picks it up, slamming me back to the ground, and drops down on my chest, putting her boots against my fists on the ground, sticking my blade under my throat.

The only sound I hear is my blood roaring in my ears, the silence coming from the crowd that's surrounded us.

"You're going to regret this, AJ." she says, digging the knife deeper into my neck. "I'll let you go just this time. But if you _ever_ hit me again, ever—just remember this fight." She stabs my knife into the dirt, stands up off of me, rubs what looks suspiciously like a tear from her cheek, and runs off towards the red team.

Just then, Chiron runs out into the field that we'd been fighting in and looks at me. "What happened?!"

"Oh, you know," I say, ignoring the throbbing in my joints. "Just your 'A' class demigod fight."

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

After ingesting a lot of ambrosia and nectar, the throbbing behind my chest begins to ease, but doesn't disappear completely. When I walk back towards my team, they're all gaping at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Y-you... just..." Alaura says. "How?!"

"I felt provoked, and I wasn't going to let that destroy my reputation by being beat by a girl,"

"I—I've never seen that good of fighting... especially against someone with magic going against you..."

"Yeah, I don't know how I did it though." But then I look at my dagger. It's roasted, too damaged to use—probably from it absorbing the blast of lightning Bay had thrown at me. "Hmm."

I walk over to the collection of weapons they have set up on a table, and pick up a short sword. It's not perfectly heavy, but not too light either. I look it over, then slip it into my belt.

Everyone's still staring at me. "Well?" I ask. "Are we going to go beat them yet? It's starting."

Alaura swallows, shaking her head, and turns to the team. "AJ's right. Let's go!"

We all run off into the woods, our armor clanking, no real plan in mind except for, we're going to win.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

**Will's POV—**

Bay was pretty shaken up after the fight with AJ. I'd _never_ seen a demigod, not even my fellow Ares campers, fight that well. I don't know what overcame him, but I just can't believe he'd hit Bay like that, and attacked Caroline.

But, then again... after what they'd said about Eme... Well, that was pretty harsh. I don't want to say they deserved it, but... they did.

In fact, when we'd went back into the pavilion, Bay had broken down and practically sobbed. I was afraid something inside of her had been broke permanently, but it's probably just guilt from the fight. I mean, she did slam a rod into his chest.

I'd comforted her awkwardly, and then the game had begun. Ash sent me out to set traps for anyone on the opposite team.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

I crouch on the forest floor, plucking the string I'd just tightened into a branch high in a tree—after falling out, that is. It's one of those traps that wrap around the enemies ankle, pulling them up off the ground and hanging them up in the air.

I'd even had time to dig some of those pits where you fall down in them and you're basically trapped. But so I didn't get any charges for murder on my part—because that would be bad—I'd strung a rope ladder into all of them so the trapped persons could get out.

Then the game had begun. Everyone ran into the woods, screaming battle cries and mini-sword fights breaking out.

I step behind a tree, hiding and waiting for a victim for my traps.

Just when I'm about to collapse from tiredness—I'd been standing here for about a half an hour at least—I hear a branch snap, bringing my spear up for protection.

I peek around the tree, and my stomach drops. Walking into the clearing is Hollie, unable to see that she's about to walk right into the trap that pulls you off the ground.

I run out from behind the tree, forgetting at the moment that she can't see and wasn't helpless, I jump in front of her and stick my foot in the trap on accident, and then I'm yanked off my feet.

"Oop!" I say, trying to reach up to disable the trap, just then realizing I'd positioned it so you can't reach the knot that holds it together.

Even though she can't see me, Hollie starts to laugh. The nerve.

"Still think I'm helpless, Will?" she asks, tapping a foot on the ground, turning around to walk away.

"Hey!" I exclaim. "A-are you just going to leave me here?" I chuckle nervously.

"Figure it out, _Hot Shot_." she turns and runs off to help the blue team.

Then the branch snaps, and I fall to the ground with a hard thud.

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

**AJ's POV—**

I run through the woods, my new sword put out in front of me, slashing at everything that gets in my way, with Alaura running at my side.

We dart into a clearing somewhere in the woods, where a huge clump of boulders stand undisturbed, with a red flag swaying at the top of it.

Alaura frowns. "Shouldn't there be guards for it?"

"I guess," I say, stuffing my sword in my belt. Then I walk over to the rocks and begins scaling them.

"AJ!" she screams in a hushed whisper. "Careful!"

I grasp the flag and step back down off the rocks, then turn to walk out towards the creek, when I notice something.

"Told you I'd get my revenge,"

**Cliffhanger! Wow, this was a chapter with a LOT of fighting in it... the conversation Bay and AJ had right before they started eating, I actually got this from my friend AJ—whom I named this AJ after—and I's running gag we have. She says I walk like a French model when I walk, strutting my shoulders slightly. Odd, off-topic, but I have to add some humor into this, no?(; **


	6. It All Goes As Planned

**AJ's POV—**

_"Told you I'd get my revenge,"_

I stand straight up from the voice—not out of fear, but that it was _Bays_' voice.

She walks out of the bushes, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and shoved up into her war helmet. She's wearing dark purple and black battle armor, with black and purple painted across her face—sort of like the way football players put the black stuff on their faces.

At her belt is a small razor-sharp dagger, and in her hand is a small red sliver of metal, with a glowing green orb topping the tip.

Alaura raises up her sword for protection and says in a shaky voice, "Go away."

Bay laughs lightly, flicking her wand to one side, throwing Alaura off-balance and knocking her into the rocks. She doesn't seem really hurt, just a bit dazed.

"Bay!" I say, causing her to turn her wand on me. "Calm down!"

Her eyes flare with flames. "I will _not_ calm down." she says, walking closer. "You had absolutely _no_ right to hit me earlier."

"You provoked me!" I say, it coming out as more of a squeak. She holds her hand out and I think she's summoning her staff for magical defenses, but a sword appears from thin air instead—not much of a happiness on my part though.

"I thought I was done with it," she says, looking down and gripping the leather hilt of her sword.

"Done with what?" I ask, raising up my sword for when she decides to make any sudden moves.

"Abuse!" she says, tears filling her eyes as she brings down the blade towards my face. Thank goodness I had seen it coming, or I would have been a shish kebab. I raise up my sword to meet hers and they collide in a shower of sparks.

"My dad pushed me into the canals, he had hurt me several times before..." she says, sparring with me again. Thank goodness I'd paid attention in sword fighting class, because I found myself anticipating her moves, figuring out just how to dodge them. "You hurt me just like him, only you hurt something worse."

"As if," I scoff, attempting a disarming maneuver on her by bringing down my blade on the hilt of her sword. She feints to the side and brings down the flat of her blade on to my side, but luckily I was wearing battle armor—but I'll still probably have a bruise from the blunt of the impact.

"You hurt my pride," she says, attempting to disarm me as I'd done her almost. The sword clatters out of my hand, and she puts the tip of her blade to my chest, digging in lightly.

"Think about everything Eme did for us though," I say, looking for an opportunity to retrieve my sword.

She smirks, digging the blade into my breastplate deeper. "She did nothing for me,"

Wait a second—is it just me...or did her voice sound different somehow? More dark, more deeper...more hollow.

"Well, she may not have done anything to you or for you. But still, after all I put her through without knowing it...I just think you'd have a little more respect for her—and can you blame me for getting a bit defensive for her."

Then another thought appears. "Have you ever been the main cause of someone giving up their life?"

"No," she says, looking around for her wand which was stuck in the dirt just a minute ago. Then she realizes it's not there and her eyes darken.

"I'll protect her honor with my life," I say confidently. "And I would do it all over again for her."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see—somehow—Alaura find a way to summon magic from Bays' wand which she'd picked up during our battle and knock her sword away from my chest. Bay attempts to lift it up, but it seems to be drawn towards the ground majorly, as if it suddenly weighs a ton.

Bay throws the sword down, cursing, her eyes glowing green lightly.

Wait a second—she doesn't have green eyes.

Then something hits her in the back and she crumples forward, moaning lightly. Alaura blows a bit of smoke off the tip of Bays' wand, then puts it on the ground, smashing it with a rock. It explodes, and then I see what had happened during this all.

Mason darts into the clearing, picking up the red teams flag that I'd dropped when Bay had attacked us. He starts to run through the woods with us following close by, pursued by a dozen Ares campers. He throws the flag to the left, where Hollie's running through the woods, dodging vines and tangle-y roots with ease, even though she can't technically _see_ anything.

But, she can't see that coming. The wooden pole knocks her in the head lightly, throwing her off her feet momentarily.

"Dude!" she says, wiping mud off her face. "I can't see anything through the air, dimwit!" She feels around for the flag and grasps the handle, running at full speed while the Ares campers and most of the red team get tangled up on the vines that snag their ankles. Hollie jumps up in the air, momentarily unable to see, and then lands on the opposite side of the creek, dusting off her jeans.

"How's that for epic, now?" she flashes us a cocky grin, tilting her head to the side lightly.

We all cross over to the other side of the creek, the entire red team glaring daggers at us. The last thing I see while everyone cheers, lifting Hollie up off the ground—despite her protests—is Bay storming off into the forest, her eyes completely murderous.

**Yeah... a short chapter.**

**Happy New Year, though!  
Hope you all have a good 2013!  
I sure am, getting back into the spirit of writing now that all the holidays are over.(;**


	7. Everything Goes Wrong For Us All

**AJ's POV:  
**  
Everyone from the blue team sat around tables in the dining pavilion with their friends from the same team and from the other team, celebrating our victory. We'd won over the red team in Capture the Flag, which had the most toughest fighters from camp, but they lacked something—in a way—that we had. Strategy and planning, even though it was mostly improvised.  
I lean over to Will and say under my breath to him, "Should I be worried about Bay?"

He looks at me and arches an eyebrow. "Maybe. I think she'll be fine though. She knows how to take care of herself."

I look away and shrug.

After about ten minutes of worrying when she doesn't come back, I step up from the table I'm sitting at and stand up, walking from the pavilion and into the woods, and start to look around.

Really, I can't go into much detail about what happened. Let's just say, it was dark. I stepped in several mud puddles, got into tons of fights with monsters, and many, many other things I don't feel like talking about because they're just so awkward.

About one hour after searching, just when I was about to give up, I came across a small river, I guess you'd call it a stream, really. There was a small fire built next to it, with Bay sitting next to it, her bare feet dangling in the water.

This thing just came over me from seeing her. It was almost like I'd forgotten about how I told her off, how we'd gotten into a fight, and just everything I'd done to hurt her. I step out from the shrubbery and into the moonlight. Bay turns around, her brown eyes wide—weren't they just green about an hour ago?

"Are you okay?" I ask and put my sword into its scabbard, stepping closer.

"I don't know," she shrugs her shoulders and turns back to the water, looking down into it. "Something just...I don't know, came over me. I can't explain it."

"Are you mad at me?" she asks as I sit down next to her and drop my boots down into the water softly next to her feet and adjust my sword so I can sit down on the ground easily.

"Not really... I just can't understand why you would possibly side with Caroline on something, especially something like that."

"I'm not sure." she whispers and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's like I just said, I wasn't thinking."

"I'm sorry, you know." I say and look over at her. "I just...for some reason, I feel like if it wasn't for me, Eme would still be here now." I pull my belt off and set it to the side with my sword sheath and lay back, flat on the ground and look up at the moon. "I wish she was still here."

"You shouldn't." she looks over at me.

"Why not?" I ask.

She bites her lower lip softly and pulls her feet out of the water, magically drying them. "Okay, so...Hecate kids, we can see alternatives to things. Like, a what would happen if this didn't happen situations."  
"What does that have anything to do with it?"

"Well...I got curious what would happen if Eme didn't get taken over by Chaos, so I looked up a spell that would show me what would happen. It was horrible...even more horrible than being taken over by Chaos. I think she got the better end of the deal, to be honest..."

"That still doesn't answer my question," I said.

"I can't tell you. But I can show you." She turned towards me and sat in one of those positions your kindergarten teacher would call 'criss-cross-applesauce' or something like that and put her hands in front of her, palms facing up.  
"Um...what do I do?" I look around awkwardly and she closes her eyes.

"Just put your hands on mine, stupid. And don't interlock your fingers, or I'll slap you." she says, cracking a smile softly.

I place my palms on hers and she starts to chant some words in a language that sounds like Ancient Greek, but I can't make out the words like I can most Greek sentences, so I figure she's using a more ancient version.

"Δείξε μου το εναλλακτικό τέλος, αγρότης!" she shouts. The wind starts to whip wildly and I open my eyes, even though I probably didn't need to close them in the first place.  
"What'd you say?" I yell at her over the wind.

"Show me the alternative ending, peasant." she says calmly.

"That works?" I ask, giving her an odd look.

"Apparently." she laughs. "Now look into my eyes, doofus!"

I stare into her eyes and the world starts to shimmer around me, making it look more like we'd taken LSD than cast a spell.

I take one last look into her eyes, and the world dissolves, and there's a blinding flash, and then it all goes dark.

**:.:.:.:Line Break:.:.:.:**

The first thing I saw was all six of us, Ray, Mac, Will, Bay, Eme, and myself standing at the tip of Half-Blood Hill, under Thalia's Pine Tree, right after our quest was over.

Wait—that couldn't be right. Eme hadn't made it back from the quest. She'd been possessed by Chaos on the last day of their quest...

_Oh! This is an alternative!_ I think to myself. The thing about these things is I can see myself doing things, and I can see what other people are doing. Kind of like watching television, only in your mind.

I looked over to Bay, waiting for an explanation. It was almost as if she didn't realize they were still in the alternate world. Almost forced to do it by something in the corner of my mind, I walked over to Bay and interlocked his fingers with her.

As the campers stormed up towards the hill, Mac gave Eme an encouraging look.

The rest went by in a blur. We were asked tons of questions, so many that we didn't even get to keep up hardly.

"The quest went fine!" alternative me yelled out to them, then introduced the girl he was holding hands with.

As soon as the gathering was over, Eme ran back to her cabin, a place they all knew she dreaded going to, especially because the counselor gave her nothing but trouble.

The scene went fuzzy, and transferred to the dining pavilion. It was a few weeks later, and I could tell we had befriended Alex, Mason, Cami, and Hollie. We were all sitting there, when Eme came running up to us, looking as if she was about to explode from excitement.

She flung the piece of paper that rested in her hand towards us all as she practically screamed, "Do you know what this is?!"

"Well," Hollie started to say. "It sounds like a piece of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the piece of paper."

Eme took a few deep breaths, smiling from excitement, then said, "Well, the local theater here is having auditions for RENT,"

"Why are there auditions for rent?" Alternative me said. "Shouldn't they be free, or something?"

"Not rent like an apartment, silly!" she said, rolling her eyes. "It's a musical! I convinced Chiron to let me go try out!"

"Oh, cool," Bay said sarcastically, but Eme was too happy to pick up the sarcasm in her voice.

"I know!" she exclaimed. She seemed a little upset about how nobody was like _oh my gods, woah!_ or something like that, and then how fast they moved on to a different topic, like one of the new spells Bay had tried out.

"Do you want any breakfast?" Alex asked Eme, shoving his food towards her.

"Nah, I gotta go practice my piece!" she said and sprinted off towards her cabin.

I didn't feel too good about her skipping breakfast, especially after her past problem with anorexia, but I decided not to dwell too much on it.

"Do y'all think Eme'll get in?" Will asks, trying to start a conversation.

There's a mixed reaction from everyone.

"I don't think she will, to be honest." I say, shrugging.

"Me either," Bay says.

Real me noticed that behind Alternative Me, Eme was standing there, looking at other me—goshness, this is getting confusing. Anyways, she looked at me from the vision, tears pouring out of her eyes slightly as she ran down to the canoe lake. **  
**

The vision fast-forwarded to a few months later, from what I could assume.

All the guys from the alternative were sitting in a big auditorium, waiting for a program to start.

Eme _did _get a part in RENT, from what I see. When the show started, I didn't really know what to expect, since I'd always drownded out her talks about big plays and musicals, and things like that.

It doesn't take long to figure out the story line. It's about a group of impoverishes musicians trying to survive in New York, under the shadow of HIV and AIDS.

After a bit, I get blown away from Eme singing the song _Light My Candle_. The sweet and innocent girl I knew before looked absolutely destroyed in the play. From what I read about the character in the program paper, she's playing a drug-addict stripper that has AIDS. She stumbles onto the stage, looking absolutely ready to pass out. I knew she was just playing her part, but it scared me a bit.

When she started performing _Out Tonight,_ I got really scared for her innocence because she was literally doing a pole dance on one of those brass stripper poles, except she was literally stripping.

During act two, I saw the emotion pouring out of her when she sang _Without You._

Let's just say, I cried at the end, when Eme almost died. Not many people knew this, but I was one of the emotional types when it comes to people dying in movies and things like that.

When the musical finally ended, Eme ran out towards our seats, absolutely grinning with pride, so drunk from the happiness she was stumbling almost every step—hopefully she wasn't actually drunk...

The alternative went blurry, and I thought it was over. I don't understand why Bay thought it was so bad.

It fast forwards to a few _more_ months later, and it was quite obvious Alternative Bay and I were a couple. They held hands while walking through camp, and just other couple things like that.

From what I seen of Eme during the version, it was killing her. Literally. She didn't eat anything. Threw her entire plate into the braziers at dinner.

The Friday of that week, there was the normal campfire. Chiron didn't make everyone sit with their assigned cabins, they sat wherever they want. It was sort of obvious where the gang went, including Eme, though it was obvious she was trying to stay strong with Bay and alternative me sitting so close together.

Towards the end, I wrapped my arms around Bay from behind and told her I loved her, then shared a kiss on the lips. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give Eme a mental and physical breakdown. She ran away from the campfire towards the cabin, tears running down her face.

**Eme's POV:**

I sat in my cabin, my knees pulled to my chest, trying to hold back the tears, but ultimately failing. My bangs were plastered to my face with tears, wondering what I ever did to deserve this. I found myself muttering the lyrics to _On My Own_, a song I found myself singing a lot lately.

"On my own  
Pretending he's beside me  
All alone  
I walk with him till morning  
Without him  
I feel his arms around me  
And when I lose my way I close my eyes  
And he has found me..."

That was it. I was giving up. I couldn't take anymore of it.

I got up and ripped a sheet out of my notebook, pulling out a permanent marker—so at least something about me can be permanent to him.

I wrote down on paper in my neatest handwriting,

**AJ,**

**Without me, your world will go on turning. **

**-Eme.**

I walked over to one of the cabinets of the cabin, and pulled out a bottle of pills—which we had in handy cause Apollo was the god of healing—and twisted the cap open. I took one dry, then pulled out a glass of water and chugged it, putting almost the whole bottle into my system. It didn't take long until it was all over.

**AJ's POV:**

I really couldn't believe what had just happened. Eme...

The Apollo kids went into the cabin and found her about an hour later, after a game of Capture The Flag.

Caroline—believe it or not—broke down in tears, begging forgiveness for all the times she'd made her feel bad about herself.

The day of the funeral, where they burn the body, Alternative me broke down in tears.

"I'm so sorry..." Bay said, holding him to keep him from doing something like this too.

Alternative me didn't even reply. Just sobbed.

**A/N: I'm so, so sorry for leaving you guys hanging again... School ends in three weeks, and I swear, I will get back into the habit of updating! **

**Mostly written by me, with a few parts of the chapter chucked in by TeamPiper to help make it better. Idea written by TeamPiper, as usual. :D**

**Review please? Give your opinion on how we did? It would mean the world to me!(: **


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